Religion News: Anti-abortion activist holds Burn in Hell’ contest

Weekly religion rail, with items on a protest involving Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, a survey on who reads the Bible most often, getting to know the new head of Germany's Protestant church, and more.

An anti-abortion activist is holding a “Burn in Hell” contest to protest the health care reform proposals before Congress.

Randall Terry, founder of anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue, is encouraging people to burn effigies of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, film the burning, and submit the video for a chance to win prizes.

The top prize includes a weekend in Washington, D.C., during the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

In instructions for the contest, organizers say the contest is not a threat to Nancy Pelosi’s or Harry Reid’s person, and that participants should obey all laws on open flames.

According to wire reports, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer called the contest "unfortunate."

Chief bodyguard of Pope John Paul II dies

The longtime chief bodyguard of the late Pope John Paul II died Sunday at 83.

According to wire reports, Camillo Cibin died at the Pius XI clinic in Rome. Vatican Radio did not give a cause of death.

Cibin retired in 2006 after a 58-year career with the Vatican. He was nearby on May 13, 1981, when a Turkish gunman shot John Paul in a failed assassination attempt.

He also directed security during the 1962-65 Vatican Council II, which drew cardinals from around the world.

Survey Says

While many young adults are active users of the Bible, the pattern shows a clear generational drop-off – the younger the person, the less likely then are to read the Bible. People ages 18 to 44 are less likely than average to have spent time alone in the last week praying and reading the Bible for at least 15 minutes.

-- The Barna Group

Good Book?

“Reading Jesus: A Writer's Encounter with the Gospels” by Mary Gordon

In the introduction to this book, Mary Gordon is riding in a taxi as the driver listens to a religious broadcast, and she reflects that, though a lifelong Christian, she is at odds with many others who identify themselves as Christians.

In an effort to understand whether or not she had “invented a Jesus to fulfill my own wishes,” she determined to read the Gospels as literature and to study Jesus as a character. What results is a fresh and personal journey through the Gospels, as Gordon plumbs the mysteries surrounding one of history's most central figures.

Gordon takes us through all the fundamental stories — the Prodigal Son, the Temptation in the Desert, the parable of Lazarus, the Agony in the Garden — pondering the intense strangeness of a deity in human form, the unresolved more ambiguities, the problem posed to her as an enlightened reader by the miracle of the Resurrection.

Get to Know … Margot Kaessmann

The Rev. Margot Kaessmann, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, recently was elected to chair the Evangelical Church in Germany.

The Evangelical Church in Germany is the umbrella organization for 22 regional Lutheran, United and Reformed churches. It accounts for most of the country's Protestant Christians.

Kaessmann is the first woman to hold the post, as well as the youngest. The 51-year-old bishop holds a doctorate in theology and has four grown children. She was the a first person in a German evangelical bishopric to divorce a spouse.

She promotes larger emphasis on Christianity in the church, compared to past decades, and pleads for a clearer spiritual profile in church-run facilities. Kaessmann also has criticized some positions of the Roman Catholic Church, such as the teachings about homosexuality, action on reducing the spread of AIDS, ordination of women and celibacy.

The Word

Feng Shui: A belief, originating in Taoism, that structures and objects need to be properly aligned in order to promote health and functioning. -- www.religioustolerance.org